The Lottery Group

Question:

angieking
angieking
Student
College - Freshman

What are the similarities between "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston?

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Posted by angieking on Friday October 10, 2008 at 12:17 PM and tagged with compare, sweat, the lottery.

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  1. scarletpimpernel Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    This seems like a strange pairing.  One could argue that both possess a female character who is dominated by others and must choose to stand up for herself or die (in "The Lottery," it would be physical death, in "Sweat" it is more of an emotional death).

    Another similarity is the town's involvement or lack of it.  In "The Lottery," while all the townspeople must show up for the drawing, they really don't want to be a part of it.  They want to be spectators but do not want to stand up for anyone else. Likewise, the people of Delia's town make comments about her marriage and know that she is abused but do not step in to protect her.

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    Posted by scarletpimpernel on Friday June 26, 2009 at 6:51 PM